Vehicle license plate monitoring is used in a wide range of applications, foremost of which include: local (e.g. city) traffic speed control; controlling access to supervised areas (e.g. parking lots) or restricted traffic areas (RTA); road pricing; and highway security control, e.g. monitoring traffic through automatic toll systems (telepass), service areas, etc.
Vehicle license plates can be monitored using either portable devices, e.g. installed in vehicles or along the edge of the road, or permanent devices, e.g. installed overhead on poles close to the road.
Though greatly improved, territorial security control systems based on monitoring vehicle license plates still leave room for further improvement.